How did it all begin? How did I go from a happy and content 35mm photographer to a large format addict? Well it started out simply enough. I work at a large commercial printer. We do catalogs and other printed material. Since we need so much photography we have our own photographer. I made the mistake of making friends with him and letting him know that I have an interest in photography. The good side is that I can pester him with questions about how this or that is done. The bad side is that he often has photo equipment for sale.
So one day he brings in this 4 x 5 Calumet camera and says it would be perfect for me. I wasn't sure if I wanted it or not because it came without a lens. I knew that was going to be a big pain in the ass and an expensive one at that to find a decent lens. I was going to tell him no thanks but when he saw I was going to say no he dropped his price. That's pretty much what started me down the Large Format road.
After I got the camera it took me a while to get all the rest of pieces together. My photographer friend had a heavy-duty tripod that he sold me pretty cheap and I spent a few months on e-bay getting film holders. I was able to pick up used ones pretty cheap. I have about twenty of them, which I figured should be more then enough since they each hold two negs. However now I find out about something called Quick loads. You use Quick Loads with a special film holder and it saves you from having to carry all those film holders around. Not only is it lighter but it also makes it easier to keep your negs dust and scratch free. From what I understand Fuji makes Quick Loads that'll work with a Polaroid 4 x 5 film holder, which I also got off of e-bay. My problem is that I work in black and white. From what I've been able to find out so far Kodak is the only company that makes 4 x 5 Quick Loads in black and white (T-max 100). I haven't confirmed this yet but I'll let you know when I look into it a little more.
So now we're only missing a few more pieces.
Light Meter • Lens & Shutter • Light • Enlarger • Film Developing • Really LARGE Format!
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